Khopesh

[woodelf]

There were two khopesh (or khepesh) found in the tomb of Tutankhamen, according to Nicholas Reeves' The Complete Tutankhamen; length measurements were given for them, which may help out a little (I hope )

One was adult scaled, the cutting edge possibly more suited to crushing, and its overall dimensions being 23-and-a-half inches in length. The second was designed for a child, being 16 inches in length; it also had a "finely edged cutting blade".
No information given on weight, though the illos make these look like oddly dainty weapons (especially the smaller one).

I have no idea how they would handle, so to speak, but comparing them to longswords or broadswords (although that's a variant that race-specific in AU, yes?) seems a little off to me, proportion-wise...

Well, don't forget that D&D has always over-sized many of their weapons, especially the swords. When i've compared them in the past, the D&D sword lengths were a good 30%-50% longer than the real thing. It's harder to say with D&D3E, because they don't give actual numbers. But assuming the grid in the image [in the D&D3E PH] is in quarter-foot increments (which seems to be the intention), they're still at it. A claymore, frex, arguably either a 2-handed or hand-and-a-half (i.e., "bastard") sword in actual real-world use, seems to have typically been under 5 feet in total length (usually just more than 4.5'), and with a blade around 3.5 feet long. Now, looking at the illustrations in the PH, that's pretty close to what D&D calls a longsword. Looking around some more at historical-replica websites, the sorts of swords one would normally call a longsword--large but clearly one-handed swords--run in the 30"-33" blade length--considerably shorter than the 39"+ length depicted in the PH. Likewise, actual shortswords start at around 22" (blade length) and go down--vice the 24" blade depicted in the PH. And if you restrict yourself just to swords that were heavy primarily-thrusting weapons, like the gladius, you find them more around the 1.5' blade-length. So, given that the D&D sizes run around 30% larger than their real-world bases, i'd say that the D&D khopesh could conceivably be longsword-like. Maybe.

 

[woodelf]

That is one pig-ugly sword. I'd never wield that in combat.

The other barbarians would laugh at me...

Well, you know, we *would* let you clean it up and sharpen it first.

 

[Krieg]

I also seem to recall seeing similar looking swords from much later periods in sub-Saharan Africa.

Most notably the Shotel (aka an Abyssinian sword)....

 

[takyris]

Going by the picture right above mine, I'd stat it as a scimitar. Sure, the edge is on the other side, but nothing else about it is different enough to really matter. The edging is flavor text. It's bigger than a sickle, and it's obviously closer to a swordlike weapon than a sickle-like weapon.

 

[LGodamus]

Going by the picture right above mine, I'd stat it as a scimitar. Sure, the edge is on the other side, but nothing else about it is different enough to really matter. The edging is flavor text. It's bigger than a sickle, and it's obviously closer to a swordlike weapon than a sickle-like weapon.

I'd buy that. scimitar was what popped into my head at first glance as well

 

[Ledeas]

comparing 2nd ed to 3.5 ed.

In 2nd ed. The Khopesh was considered a druid's weapon and was considered to be slow. Had a speed rating of 9 (which is pretty slow, A two-handed sword is 10 and long sword is 5) and did 2d4 dmg to a medium sized creature and 1d6 to a large creature (which you would pretty much just reverse for 3.5) it could be used to pull or trip (mentioned in 1 text) but its main benifit was that it was a sword that could be found in almost every tech level of the game.

In 3.5 I have searched for it and personally I would have it stats to read as:

Cost: 18gp
DMG: Small - 1d6 Medium - 2d4 Crit: 19-20 X2
-2 to Initiative +2 to Disarm attempts.

 

[MJGraham]

Actually, isn't a sickle a lot like a scaled-down scythe? 'Cause, if so, the functional surface isn't the tip, it's the long, [concave-]curved inside edge.

You're kind of right. Both are farming implements and they have somewhat similar uses. I think the inclusion of them on RPG weapon's lists is a nod to peasant rebellions and a way of allowing PCs to fight the Grim Reaper, but I don't think that either would be a first choice as a weapon in real life.

 

[Jhaelen]

You're kind of right. Both are farming implements and they have somewhat similar uses. I think the inclusion of them on RPG weapon's lists is a nod to peasant rebellions and a way of allowing PCs to fight the Grim Reaper, but I don't think that either would be a first choice as a weapon in real life.

I think it's both fitting weapons for Necromancers!!!

 

[MJGraham]

I think it's both fitting weapons for Necromancers!!!

Very few people know that necromancers take a few levels of farmer. It's part of the training requirements.

 

[Tonguez]

Real Kopesh were derived from axes and are thus chopping weapons - slow, heavy cuts
The hook was designed to pull down sheilds (disarm?)